My daughter and I recently started playing M.A.S.H. before bed. You know the game… It stands for Mansion, Apartment, Shack, House. You choose several categories with 4 choices each (one of which must be terrible) and then your friend draws a spiral until you say stop to randomly choose which list items to cross out.
Just tonight I’ve married Ryan Reynolds and narrowly avoided serving toe nails at our wedding reception. A fox was the ring bearer.
The sad truth is that I had to Google how to play. My daughter and I disagreed on strategy which sent us down a rabbit hole of M.A.S.H. videos and blog posts where I learned that the rules aren’t really consistent and beyond the generally accepted basics, you just do what feels right.
I found myself Googling soccer rules earlier this year when I started coaching my son’s soccer team. Did you know that the kickoff rules changed in 2016? Never mind that I was looking up how to take a goal kick at the time I discovered that fact. (Goal kicks have not changed in the 19 years since I played, by the way…)
I was playing pool at work last week (yes, you read that correctly) and was elated to sink a solid ball into the corner pocket. My coworker, and apparent rule stickler, plucked the shared pool stick from my hand stating that I didn’t hit my ball first so it was his turn. I was flabbergasted. Never have I ever been instructed past “Use the white ball to hit the other balls. Don’t hit the white ball into the pocket. Don’t hit the 8 ball in until the end.” And “Stay with whatever pattern you sink first.”
It’s incredible the things that fade away as time passes. It’s dizzying the things we get away with when we’re young or the things we’ll never learn because of the company that we keep.
I’m 37 and it’s been a season of learning and relearning.
Can you imagine the things that you’d miss if you felt you’d arrived? If you felt you had so much to teach and nothing left to learn?
Can you imagine?
megdanielle 
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